New Worlds

The history of New Worlds is extremely complex, and begins in
1936 with the creation, by Maurice K. Hansen, of a fanzine called
Novae Terrae (Latin for New Worlds). After 29 issues,
Hanson tired of the workload involved, and handed it over to John
Carnell, who renamed the fanzine New Worlds, and restarted the
numbering, but the magazine only existed for 4 issues, due to the
outbreak of war in 1939. The main sequence started in 1946, still under
the editorship of John Carnell, settling down to a monthly schedule in
1954 which continued, in digest format until mid-1964.

During this period there were two interesting variant issues, local distribution of Canadian and New Zealand editions,
and, in 1960, there was even a short-lived, reprint, US
version of the magazine.

When Carnell decided, in 1963, to close the magazine, Michael
Moorcock wrote an impassioned letter of comment arguing for its
continuance. Partly as a result of this, when a new publisher (Roberts
& Vinter) was found for the magazine, Carnell recommended Moorcock
as the new editor, and he duly took over in May 1964, with the magazine
shifting to a paperback format. This period lasted a mere three years,
initially with a bi-monthly schedule and then the standard monthly
schedule, before the publisher went into receivership.

However, it had forged a reputation for itself in this period and,
as a result of Brian Aldiss contacting the Arts Council on its behalf,
it received a grant that allowed it, in 1967 after a brief hiatus, to
continue in the large, glossy, format in which it became most
famous/notorious. It struggled on in this format for a mere four years,
with a variety of publishers and editors, until finally winding down (in
that format) with a subscription-only issue (#201) in 1971.

Meanwhile, Moorcock had been investigating other avenues for New
Worlds and 1971 also saw the launch of a quarterly paperback
anthology series called New Worlds Quarterly. The schedule proved
too ambitious, however, and the name reverted to New Worlds with
the sixth issue, with the series as a whole folding after the tenth
issue in 1976. Confusingly a series of six issues was also published by
a different publisher in the US, with the first 4 US issues identical to
the UK ones, the fifth US issue being a reprint of the sixth UK issue,
and the sixth US issue a reprint of the seventh UK issue with a number
of changes! Although this series did not officially continue the
numbering of issues from the previous series, future series have been
numbered as if they did, so issue numbers have been assigned as
appropriate.

Two years later, the magazine saw a brief re-appearance as a
semi-prozine, although this only lasted five issues from 1978 to 1979.
There was then a hiatus of 12 years until the magazine reappeared in
1991 as an annual trade paperback, which lasted for four issues, and two
separate one-off issues in 1996 and 1997. Although nothing has been
heard of the magazine since, there is little doubt it will reappear
before long in yet some other format.

Probably started in early 1954 and continued through 1956, ended due to
a strike, and started back again with issue 99, and then continued to
142. As far as is known the contents were identical to the UK issues but
issues were dated a month or two later. Other issues probably exist.

When New Worlds was relaunched in 1946, the first issue had a
cover by Bob Wilkin (as shown above), but sold poorly. When issue #2
appeared in late 1946 with a cover by Victor Caesari it sold so well
that in early 1947 Carnell had the remaining stock of #1 stripped of the
covers. He then had a new cover - the Caesari one, with the date, number
and story title blanked out - wrapped around the stripped issue #1. It
also sold well.

The second "variant" issue is much rarer as John Carnell described in "A History Of New Worlds", published in
A History And Checklist Of New Worlds (B.S.F.A. fanzine, 1959, ed. Eric Bentcliffe).

The first issue from the new printer (No: 21) should have commenced in
April but was delayed at the works and eventually was published with a
dateline of June 1953. At the same time and in the same format, Nova had
launched 'Nova Novels' and four titles had been put in hand at the
printers. Only the first one - "Stowaway to Mars" by John Beynon ever
saw print. The printer had undertaken more than he could cope with, and
the editorial wheels ground almost to a halt as delay followed delay and
no 'New Worlds' No: 22 was printed. On various occasions, while still at
the printers, it was dated August, then Autumn, then October and finally
December, before actually going to press.

Even after the issue had been printed further delays ensued before I
received three advance copies - on the 16th January 1954! We refused to
accept delivery in view of the fact that the issue was already out of
date and thereafter we were involved in semi-legal discussions which
precluded the possibility of continuing publication. Two of the three
copies of that ill-fated original No: 22 were used by the solicitors as
evidence, the third copy I retained; the rest were held under bond and
subsequently destroyed. It therefore transpires that I now have the only
copy of that original issue No: 22 in the world -- for what that is
worth!

Naturally, you will not find the unpublished issue of No: 22 listed in
the accompanying checklist, as it was never officially on sale. But for
those who keep records the complete contents were as follows:-

cover - by Quinn (blocks for which were eventually released to us and used on 'Science Fantasy' No: 13)

lead novelette:

"This Precious Stone" by H.J.Murdoch

short stories:

"Only an Echo" by Alan Barclay

"Come Away Home" by Francis G. Rayer

"The Perfect Secretary" by J.F.Burke

"All Glory Forgotten" by Kenneth Bulmer

"Museum Piece" by John Christopher

article:

"Radiac" by John Newman

If you look through the checklist you will find that all the stories were subsequently used in later issues of 'New Worlds'.

If anyone knows what happened to that remaining copy please contact me!